I only have two goals for this series: 1) Introducing the masses to great new music and 2) Giving myself an excuse to listen to every single new release on the Tidal streaming service so I can stay up with new music. Doing this on a weekly basis means that I have a one week window to get this up before the Tidal feed flips to the next set of records, so by posting song reviews rather than full album reviews, it allows me to get more out there and then if you choose to dig deeper, you can.
So… songs of the week for the release date of 5/29/2020.
- Artist: Lady Gaga
- Song: “911”
- Album: Chromatica
- Genre: Dance Pop
- Notes: For her 6th record, Lady Gaga gives us a full blown dance record, which is probably her best album since Artpop in 2013. It’s not terribly innovative but should please her fans.
- Artist: Jimmy Buffett
- Song: “Cussin’ Island”
- Album: Life on the Flip Side
- Genre: Light Rock
- Notes: Younger me didn’t really want anything to do with Jimmy Buffett. Older me welcomes a nice, sunny album from him every couple years. And “Cussin’ Island” is one of the funnier ones on the disc, which is pretty decent overall.
- Artist: Xibalba
- Song: Santa Muerte
- Album: Anos en Infierno
- Genre: Metalcore
- Notes: Fourth record from these dudes out in California, which is weird since it feels like they’ve released many more. But it has the same feel as all the others – loud, brutal metalcore, more on the metal side of the fence.
- Artist: Alestorm
- Song: “Treasure Chest Party Quest”
- Album: Curse of the Crystal Coconut (Deluxe Edition)
- Genre: Pirate Metal!
- Notes: The original version came out at the end of May, 2020 but it was either never on Tidal or never showed up in the feed of new releases, so I didn’t hear it. But now that it’s there, I mean, fuck yeah, pirate metal man! They are here to “get lit, talk shit and drink all your whiskey!”
- Artist: Kip Moore
- Song: “Sweet Virginia”
- Album: Wild World
- Genre: Country
- Notes: Early frontrunner for country album of the year! Powerful country rock right here.
- Artist: The Howl and the Hum
- Song: “Love You Like a Gun”
- Album: Human Contact
- Genre: Alt. Rock
- Notes: A great debut album from these four guys out of the UK. Definitely a rock sound that could be on any top channel of your favorite streaming channel.
- Artist: Scarlxrd
- Song: “SICK XF SILENCE”
- Album: FANTASY VXID; AUTUMN ep
- Genre: Trap Rock?
- Notes: Not necessarily good but different than anything I’ve heard in the trap genre before. He’s pitched as the first trap metal artist and while I don’t hear any metal, there was none in standard rap metal back in the day either, nor hair metal a long time ago, so you know… but this is definitely trap and it’s definitely rock and this British dude raps/screams in a way that you can’t understand a damn thing but it’s unique.
- Artist: Vandenberg
- Song: “Shitstorm”
- Album: 2020
- Genre: Hard Rock
- Notes: A new Vandenberg record after 35 years simply wasn’t on my radar but it’s a damn fine record, you know, if you liked 80s hard rock. Adrian Vanderberg brought along Brian Tichy and Rudy Sarzo along for the ride here, so with that crew, you kind of know what you’re going to get. And aside from modern production, you get a sound right out of the 80s as if their last album wasn’t in 1985.
- Artist: Joell Ortiz, Kxng Crooked
- Song: “Get Ya Money”
- Album: H.A.R.D.
- Genre: Hip Hop
- Notes: Two thirds of Slaughterhouse here and with Kxng Crooked, a rapper that Eminem just claimed was the most underrated rapper in the world and while I don’t know enough underrated rappers to know, I can at least say this album is excellent and certainly a nice change from trap.
- Artist: Daughters of Reykjavik
- Song: “Thirsty Hoes”
- Album: Soft Spot
- Genre: Hip-Hop
- Notes: Icelandic Hip-Hop. Never pictured that would be included in one of my posts but here we are. This is a pretty great hip-hop record from a group of Nine Icelandic female rappers, even if most of the songs are in Icelandic and I can’t understand them (some are in English). The beats are solid and dark and the flows are on point at least.
The Trusty Steed 